


Here, Now

by ignipes



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-12
Updated: 2005-06-12
Packaged: 2017-10-02 22:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignipes/pseuds/ignipes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the summer after their seventh year at Hogwarts, Remus moves into Sirius' flat in London.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here, Now

Remus is sitting on the kitchen floor, building a castle out of pots, pans, teacups and cutlery. He selects a butter knife from the mismatched pile by his knee, touches it with his wand and mutters, "_Adhaere_," then sets it atop two forks with interlocking tines. The knife wobbles for a second, then settles into place.

Remus draws his hand away slowly and examines his architectural achievement. Not bad, though he does wish he didn't have quite so many spoons. It really is difficult to make a fierce-looking battlement when all one has are spoons.

Just as he reaches for a spatula, there is a loud _pop_ in the living room. The scent of spicy take-away curry floats through the flat, and moments later Sirius is saying, "I was too late for the linen shop, so we'll have to make do with just one pillow tonight." He pauses in the kitchen doorway, a colourful paper bag one hand. "But I did bring supper -- Moony, what the hell are you doing?"

Remus shrugs innocently. "Oh, nothing." He finds a place for the spatula over the top of the main portcullis, then looks around for a teacup to balance on it. Even a vat with a dainty floral pattern is better than no vat at all.

"I thought you were going to put the kitchen stuff away," Sirius says slowly.

"Well, I started to organise it, but then I got…a little distracted. Do you happen to have any boiling oil?"

Shaking his head, Sirius smiles. "Fresh out of boiling oil, mate. I do have curry, though. Hungry?" He pulls the containers out of the bag and sets them aside. Then he pauses for a moment, looking around thoughtfully. "Should we use plates?"

"It's take-away curry."

"I know. But it's -- Never mind."

"It's what?" Remus looks up, and his eyes fall on a bundle beside the curry on the counter. "Are those flowers?"

"No. I mean, yes. What do you want to drink?"

"Flowers?"

"Actually, we only have water, so water it is." Sirius busies himself at the sink, taking an extraordinarily long time to fill two glasses.

"Flowers, Sirius?"

"It was that old witch outside the restaurant, okay?" Sirius bursts out, spinning around and splashing water onto the floor. "She's always there, and nobody ever buys her flowers so I thought -- oh, stop laughing, you bastard. She wanted to know if they were for my girlfriend. I should have told her yes -- then gone out and _found_ a girlfriend."

"You should have told her that you _are_ the girlfriend."

Sirius sniffs, the picture of affronted dignity, then gives up. "No more mockery, or you'll go to bed hungry! Understand?" Remus nods solemnly, fighting down his laughter. After a moment, Sirius grins and passes one of the containers down, then sits cross-legged across from Remus. "Are we allowed to requisition spoons from the castle, or shall we use our hands?"

"I believe the castle can spare some reinforcements from its western tower." Remus plucks two spoons free and hands one to Sirius. Stirring the curry thoughtfully, he observes, "It was nice of Andromeda to give us all this stuff. I don't know what any of it is for, but it does make me feel very culinary."

Sirius shrugs. "She says it'll give her an excuse to ask for all new stuff for their anniversary this year."

"Still, it was nice of her."

"Yeah. It was."

They eat in silence for a few minutes. The kitchen window faces west, and the evening sun is casting a warm golden glow over the disorganised little room. Remus watches Sirius look around, a pleased, proprietary look on his face, and he can almost hear the thoughts and plans skittering behind those grey eyes. Without paying attention to his motions, Sirius tries to bring a spoonful of curry into his mouth and misses by an inch or so, smearing sauce on his face.

Remus smiles down at his dinner. For all his poise and grace in every other aspect of life, Sirius really does look like a bloody idiot when he eats. It was the second thing Remus ever noticed about him -- after Sirius' record-setting ten-minute Sorting -- during their very first meal together at Hogwarts. Sirius is forever dripping food down his shirt, knocking goblets over, missing his mouth, spewing crumbs across the table.

_Or he would be_, Remus adds, _if we had a table._

Even in his own thoughts, the word catches him by surprise. _We_. Cautiously, he sets a few other words up beside it. _Our place._ It doesn't seem quite real, even though they spent all day transporting Remus' things from his father's house and magicking, manhandling, and manoeuvring an ancient sofa out of the Potters' attic into Sirius' fourth floor flat. Before, the flat was essentially barren, except for a flimsy old mattress -- now discarded -- and two broken stools. _Never needed anything when I wasn't here,_ Sirius had said, but he hadn't been able to hide the pleasure in his expression when they finally moved some real furniture into his flat.

No. Remus shakes his head slightly. _Our_ fourth floor flat. _Our kitchen, our shower, our fireplace, our bedroom._ He won't be going anywhere tonight. He smiles. They may not have a kitchen table, but they have a bed. No more staying over for just a few more minutes, and then another few, and a few more. No more Apparating home at four in the morning, no more awkward mornings with both he and his father pretending they don't know just what in Merlin's name kept him out so late. No more _I'll be back Friday_ and _Friday's not soon enough, Moony!_ and _Well, okay, Thursday then_.

"It looks like Hogwarts," Sirius says suddenly.

Remus looks at him, startled. "It does? I didn't mean to."

"From this side. C'mere." Sirius scoots over a bit, and Remus crawls around the castle to sit beside him. "See, that could be the North Tower, and that's the owlery, and Gryffindor Tower."

"Hmmm…the bread pan could be the Great Hall," Remus agrees, nodding.

"It's weird," Sirius says after a moment, setting his dinner aside. "That we're not going back there, I mean."

"Yeah." Remus bumps his shoulder reassuringly against Sirius'; as he expects, Sirius responds by snaking an arm around his waist and pulling him close. "I bet they changed the wards specifically to keep you and James out."

Sirius laughs. "But not you, Mr. Lupin?"

"Oh, no. I'm the good one, remember? Well-behaved. Respectable."

Leering, Sirius leans close and raises an eyebrow. "We'll take care of _that_ little problem now that I have you in my thrall."

"In your thrall? Looks more like your flat to me."

"Your flat, too," Sirius says, his expression suddenly solemn. "I mean that, Remus. It's yours, too. Ours."

"I know. I know."

After a few moments of silence, Sirius says again, "It's weird." Remus waits patiently, resting his head on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius inhales slowly, then continues, "I mean -- it's been weird, these past few weeks, living alone -- but that's not the only thing. It's just -- suddenly everybody's _doing_ things. Peter has a job, and--"

"You have a job, too," Remus points out, "or you will when your training starts."

"Yeah. I will. I'm going to be an Auror." Sirius says the words wonderingly, as if he isn't quite sure how that happened. "But -- and you're moving in here, and James -- James! The plonker's probably going to get _married_. To a girl. A _girl_." He pauses, and they both shudder at the very notion. "It's just different," he finishes lamely.

"Different can be good," Remus says, twisting a bit to look at Sirius. "It isn't always bad."

"No." A devilish grin spreads slowly across Sirius' face. "No, it's not. Got you here in my thr -- in _our_ flat, don't I?"

"But what are you going to do with me, now that you have me--" Sirius interrupts by kissing him soundly, a long, slow answer that ends with a breathless break and that wicked grin still in place. "Ah," Remus says, smiling as warm hands slip beneath his shirt and tease across his back. "A man after my own heart."

"Yes, that pretty much sums me up."

Rolling his eyes, Remus snorts with laughter. "Lucky you have such a nice flat, else I would go find a man with a _good_ sense of hu--"

With an impatient growl, Sirius interrupts again, and Remus decides that he's had enough talking, anyway.


End file.
